


5. Explosion

by love_write_edit_sleep



Series: NATM 31 Fic Challenge [5]
Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, McPhee has a shitty past, tw child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 18:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15125504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_write_edit_sleep/pseuds/love_write_edit_sleep
Summary: McPhee has something of a breakdown in which his past is revealed to Larry, Attila, and a few of the others.





	5. Explosion

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Child abuse

It was unusually quiet at the museum. It was Friday; everyone was tired, and it showed. Larry wasn’t sure why it was quieter on Fridays, but he didn’t complain. Everyone was just that little bit more manageable, more negotiable.

And that’s how Larry found himself sitting in a circle in the main hall, playing Truth Or Dare with Ahkmenrah, Teddy, Sacagawea, McPhee, Attila, Jedediah, and Octavius.

“Truth, dear boy.” Teddy smiled.

“Alright.” Larry thought for a moment. “Exactly how long were you spying on Sac before you actually went to talk to her?”

“About 53 years.”

“Ya stalked ‘er fer 53 years?!” Jed cried.

“Oh, it’s alright.” Sacagawea smiled softly. “I did notice him a few times. It never occurred to me that it was me he was looking at.”

“I could look at you all day and never grow weary of it.” Teddy blushed. 

“Ya did, fer 53 years!” Jedediah smirked. The circle laughed. Teddy leaned forward and spun the bottle in the center of the circle. The top of the bottle fell on Ahkmenrah.

“Dare!” Ahkmenrah was practically bouncing. 

“Alright. I dare you to…” Teddy smiled darkly. “Lick Columbus.”

“Teddy!” Sac gasped.

Ahkmenrah was up before anyone could blink. He ran across the hall and greeted said bronze statue.

_ “Pardon me, kind explorer.” _ Ahkmenrah spoke in Spanish.  _ “My friends have given me the challenge of licking you. May I do so?” _

Columbus nodded, offering his shoulder out to Ahkmenrah, who very quickly licked it. He smiled.

_ “Thank you.” _

_ “You’re welcome.” _

“I’m sure asking permission is cheating, my dear Pharaoh.” Teddy laughed as Ahkmenrah rejoined them.

“I did it though, did I not?”

“I’m surprised McPhee let you do that.” Larry chuckled, turning to the curator. “He usually shouts if anyone so much as touches an exhibit.”

“I can be fun. Sometimes.” McPhee shrugged.

“My turn!” Ahkmenrah spun the bottle. It fell on McPhee.

“Truth.”

“Hm…” Ahkmenrah thought. “What was… the most rebellious thing you did as a child?”

“Um… Pass…” McPhee looked down.

“You can’t pass on Truth Or Dare!” Octavius cried.

“Well… Then I chose Dare.”

“Okay, I dare you to tell me what the most rebellious thing you did as a child is.” Ahkmenrah smirked.

“I don’t-”

“Come on, McPhee!” Larry encouraged. Teddy frowned, noticing McPhee’s expression had started to grow panicked.

“But-”

“I bet it was something small like accidentally stealing a pencil from school.” Octavius sniggered. Jedediah laughed heartily.

“I don’t want-”

“Come on, boy!”

“You can tell us, my liege!”

“Dr McPhee, are you alright?” Teddy asked as everyone called over each other. Suddenly, something in McPhee seemed to snap.

“I ran away from my parent’s, okay?!” McPhee cried, silencing everyone. “My Father beat me for getting a B in History and I was scared so I ran away and when the police found me, they took me back and my Mother and Father were furious so they beat me and locked me in the basement for two days!”

“Shit… McPhee…” Larry stood, watching as the curator broke down, tears rolling down his face, as though all the emotions he’d pent up since he was a child had somehow taken over, forcing themselves out. The exhibits watched in horror.

Larry froze.

That was why McPhee was so jumpy, why he was so anxious. That was why he masked everything with humor, why he never seemed confident in what he was doing or what he was saying. 

“I-I need a minute.” McPhee muttered, standing shakily and rushing off to his office, breaking Larry’s train of thought.

“MeePhoo!” Attila stood to follow him.

“Attila!” Teddy caught the Hun by the arm. “He needs to be alone for a minute.” He’d never seen the Hun look more vulnerable.

“I-I did not mean to… This is my fault.” Ahkmenrah whispered, picking himself up. “If I ever meet his parents, I will ensure they suffer everything they did to him. They will know the true meaning of fear and they will regret ever harming him! They will not get away with such cruelty and I, personally, shall force their own abuse upon them to ensure they know exactly what they did to their child!”

“Ahk…” Larry placed a hand on the Pharaoh's shoulder.

“Sorry…”

“I’ll go talk to him, okay?”

“Okay.”

* * *

“Dr McPhee?” Larry knocked on the office door. “I, um… I’m coming in, okay?” When McPhee didn’t reply, Larry pushed the door open. McPhee wiped his eyes upon seeing him and sat up.  


“Mr Daley, what can I do for you?”

“No, don’t- Don’t do that…” Larry whispered, closing the door. “Don’t put that mask on, okay?” McPhee sighed and slumped back in his chair, his eyes red. “I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. I mean, obviously you’re not, I- D-do you want to…  _ need  _ to talk? About it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” McPhee shrugged. “My parents said I was an accident and wanted nothing to do with me. It’s in the past now.”

“You… You’ve never told anyone about this, have you?” Larry asked, sitting opposite McPhee, who shook his head. “All that… all that pain, all those secrets you’ve been hiding, they gotta come out at some point or you’re going to torture yourself.” Larry leaned forwards. “Talk to me. As your friend.”

“My… friend?” McPhee sniffed.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I-I care about you, you know?” Larry muttered awkwardly. “It might help to… to get it out.”

A knock at the door drew their attention away from each other. Teddy stepped in, followed by Sacagawea, Attila, and Ahkmenrah, who had Jedediah and Octavius on his shoulder. They all looked guilty.

“We were concerned.” Teddy told them. “We wanted to see if we could help.”

“I was just telling McPhee that, if he wanted or needed to talk, I was here as his friend.” Larry explained.

“As are we, my dear boy!” Teddy smiled. “We are all here should you feel the need to talk.”

“McPhee?” Ahkmenrah stepped forward. “I feel I must apologize for forcing you to reveal something about yourself that you were clearly uncomfortable with.”

“Me too, compadre.”

“And I, my liege.” 

“It’s fine.” McPhee forced a smile. “I just… Can we just forget it ever happened? I don’t know why I didn’t just make something up.”

“I think…” Teddy whispered. “I think you wanted to tell someone. Keeping something as horrible as that to yourself… it does things to you, my dear boy, and sometimes, we need to get it out.”

“And we’re here, if that’s what you want to do.” Sacagawea added. 

“But we’re not going to ignore it.” Larry told him. “You’re not going to be ignored or hurt again, not anymore.”

That was all it took for McPhee to start crying again.

Attila pushed past Ahkmenrah and Teddy and pulled McPhee into his arms, holding him with tenderness never before seen from the Hun. The Hun sat in McPhee’s chair, pulling McPhee onto his lap and holding him around the middle, nuzzling his face into the Curator’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

* * *

McPhee spent most of the night talking, slowly but surely telling the others about the abuse he’d endured at the hands of his parents, and bullies at school. Everyone listened, making sure he knew they were upset with his parents and not with him.  


By the morning, McPhee was exhausted. Larry left him with Attila and led the other exhibits out of the office and to the main hall.

“As a rule, no-one is to tell anyone else about this, got it?” Larry hissed. “I’m not going to have any of you betray his trust after what happened.”

“You have my word, Lawrence!”

“Yeah, Gigantor.”

“On my honor, my liege.”

“How could anyone do that to their child?” Sacagawea whispered. Teddy pulled her close.

“I don’t know.” Larry whispered, turning back to the office when he heard the door open. He watched as Attila and McPhee shared a tender moment before Attila left to return to his exhibit. “But it’s not happening again.”


End file.
